Sensational Chocolate Chip Cookies

After a week in Noosa where the closest I came to cooking was throwing together a sandwich or two or mashing up fruit & yoghurt for Chloe to eat, I was itching to get back into the kitchen & cook, more precisely to bake. So the day after we arrived home I was into it, baking these irresistible, melt in the mouth, cant stop eating them choc chip cookies from Bill Granger’s Sydney Food. Some were for my parents who were popping in for a visit after week long Chloe withdrawals & some were supposed to be for my Mother’s Group picnic which I didn’t make it to thanks to someone wanting their nap right in the middle of it. So unfortunately now I have a whole stack of cookies that I will have to gobble up myself, with a little help from Michael of course.

Chocolate Chip Cookies

125g unsalted butter, softened
1 ¼ cups tightly packed brown sugar
1 teaspoon vanilla essence
1 egg, lightly beaten
1 ½ cups plain flour
½ teaspoon baking powder
a pinch of salt
1 ½ cups chocolate bits

Preheat oven to 180c. Place butter and sugar in a bowl and beat until light & creamy. Add vanilla & egg & stir to combine. Stir in the sifted flour, baking powder and salt until just combined. Fold through chocolate chips.

Place spoonfuls of cookie mixture on a greased & lined baking tray, allowing room for spreading. Cook for 15-20 minutes, until they turn pale gold.

Allow to cool on the tray for 5 minutes before placing on a wire rack to cool further. Makes about 25

Choc Oatmeal Cookies

On the weekend I made yet another batch of cookies & this time disaster struck again, my mix master blew up whilst creaming the butter & sugar, it is just a cheap Ronson that I have had for about 8 years (of which it probably has only been used a lot these last 2 years) & now the question is, what should I replace it with? I would love a Red Kitchen aid but will have to think long & hard before blowing that much cash on a kitchen appliance even though it will definitely be used! Now I’m just waiting for disaster no 3, you know what they say, things come in threes and I don’t suppose last weeks disaster where our drain water started dripping through the light fitting in the ceiling down into my kitchen due to a blocked toilet counts as that I am classifying as a plumbing disaster. Anyway the biscuits were from Bill Granger’s Bills Food & were nice & crunchy, they almost tasted like a butternut snap with choc chips to me which is good as I love butternut snaps. And thankfully they still turned out seeing as how I had to half beat them by hand – those arm muscles from carrying Chloe around are coming in handy lately.

Choc Oatmeal Cookies

150g unsalted butter, softened
230g (1 cup) soft brown sugar
1 egg, lightly beaten
2 teaspoons vanilla extract
125g (1 cup) plain flour
1 teaspoon baking powder
a pinch of salt
235g (2 1/3 cups) rolled oats
175g (1 cup) chocolate chips

Preheat oven to 180c. Line three large baking trays with baking paper.

Cream the butter & sugar together in a bowl until fluffy & smooth. Add the eggs & vanilla extract & beat until smooth. Sift the flour, baking powder & salt into the bowl & mix lightly. Add the oats & choc chips & stir to combine.

Roll tablespoons of mixture into balls and place on the baking trays. Flatten the balls with a fork dipped in flour. Bake the cookies for 20 minutes, or until pale golden. Remove from the oven & cool on the trays for 5 minutes before transferring to a wire rack to cool. Makes about 30.

Butter Cut Out Cookies - Christmas Treats Part 3

Lastly for the Christmas boxes were some iced butter cut out cookies, recipe from Nigella Lawson in both How to be a Domestic Goddess & Feast. To save time I made the dough for these a few days ago & stuck it in the freezer, very good idea because by the end of the gingerbread men & the 60 or so of these I had to cook and ice I was exhausted, nothing was too difficult, it was just a lot to get through. I think they look really cute in my rustic hand made way & make a nice addition to the gift boxes, the tasted nice too. Can’t wait to see if everyone likes their goodies…

Butter Cut Out Biscuits

175g soft unsalted butter
200g caster sugar
2 large eggs
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
400g plain flour, pref Italian 00, plus more if needed
1 teaspoon baking powder
1 teaspoon salt
300g icing sugar, sieved, and food coloring

Biscuit cutters

Preheat oven to 180c. Cream the butter & sugar together until pale & moving towards mousiness, then beat in the eggs and vanilla. In another bowl, combine the flour, baking powder & salt. Add the dry ingredients to the butter and eggs, and mix gently but surely. If you think the finished mixture is too sticky to be rolled out, add more flour but do so sparingly as too much will make the dough tough. Halve the dough, form into fat discs, wrap each half in plastic wrap & rest in the fridge for at least an hour. Sprinkle a suitable surface with flour, place a disc of dough on it (not taking out the other half until finished with the first) and sprinkle a little more flour on top of that. Then roll it out to about ½ cm thickness. Cut into shapes, dipping the cutter into flour as you go, and place the biscuits a little apart on baking trays lined with baking paper.

Bake for 8-2 minutes, by which time they will be lightly golden around the edges. Cool on a rack and continue with the rest of the dough. When they’re all fully cooled, you can get on with the icing. Put a couple of tablespoon of just not boiling water into a large bowl, add the icing sugar & mix together, adding more water as needed to form a thick paste. Color as desired. Makes 50-60.

Malted Milk Cookies with Chunks of Dark Chocolate and Malteser Smashings

Today I needed a chocolate cookie hit so I made this batch from a recipe that I found at from Helen at Grab your fork some time ago, as promised they were delicious, very moorish & I will be trying my best not to eat the entire 25 by tomorrow!

Malted Milk Cookies with Chunks of Dark Chocolate and Malteser Smashings

Based on Donna Hay's double choc cookies from Modern Classics Book

2250g butter, softened
1 cup brown sugar
3/4 cup sugar
3 eggs
2 1/4 cups plain flour, sifted
1 tsp baking powder
1/2 cup malted milk powder
200g dark chocolate, broken into chunks
100g Maltesers, smashed in the bag

Cream butter and sugar. Add the eggs gradually and beat well. Add flour, baking powder, malted milk powder, chocolate and Maltesers and mix well. Place large tablespoonfuls of mixture onto baking trays lined with baking paper or greaseproof paper. Ensure there is plenty of room between mounds to allow for spreading (I did about five per tray). Bake at 150C for 20-25 minutes (depending on how soft/crispy you like your cookie).


Makes about 25.

Chocolate Brazil Soft Baked Biscuits

These bickies are from Green & Black’s Chocolate Recipes, love the chocolate now I have the book, hope the recipes are all as luscious as the chocolate itself. I found the dough was a bit difficult. After 1 tablespoon of milk it was still a little dry so added a bit more, then it was a bit too sticky so threw in some extra flour. It then seemed the right consistency though it was still quite difficult to roll. Anyhow cut the cookies & got to the baking, the first batch seemed a bit overdone after 20 minutes so cut down the time to about 16-17 minutes for the second tray which seemed more like it. In the end they tasted pretty good but I found them to be a little dry, I prefer my cookies on the moist & chewy side. They are for the boys at work so will have to wait & see what the verdict is from them!

Chocolate Brazil Soft Baked Biscuits

75g unsalted butter
60g caster sugar
1 large egg, beaten
175g wholemeal self-raising flour
½ teaspoon vanilla extract
1-2 tablespoons milk
75g dark chocolate, minimum 60% cocoa solids, roughly chopped
75g milk chocolate, pref 34% cocoa solids, roughly chopped
50g brazil nuts, chopped
pinch of salt

Preheat the oven to 180c. Grease a baking sheet with melted butter

Cream together the butter and sugar in a bowl until light & fluffy. Beat in the egg. Sift the flour once, returning the bran to the sifted flour, then fold it into the mixture. The bran gives a distinctive texture & flavour to the biscuits. Beat well, adding the vanilla extract and sufficient milk to make a pliable dough. Mix it with your hands, adding the milk in stages until the dough is fairly soft, but not sticky. Add the chopped chocolate, nuts & salt and distribute evenly through the dough. Roll out on to a lightly floured surface to a thickness of about 5mm. Stamp into rounds & place biscuits, spaced well apart, on the greased baking sheet.

Bake in the centre of the oven for about 20 minutes. Watch carefully so they don’t overcook. Remove from the oven and leave to cool on the baking tray for a few minutes before transferring to a wire rack to cool completely.

Makes 20

Mrs Fields Choc Chip Cookies

Tonight I cooked up a huge batch of Mrs Fields secret recipe choc chip cookies to take in to the boys at work tomorrow for the few birthdays we’ve had lately. I don’t know what Mrs Fields taste like but these were sensational, I feel sick from eating so many, hopefully the boys enjoy them. The recipe came via Waffle who got them from Recipe Zaar. I used a mixture of dark & milk choc chips & might try some variations as suggested.

Top Secret Recipes Version of Mrs. Fields Chocolate Chip Cookies

It's very important that you not exceed the cooking time given below, even if the cookies appear to be underbaked. When the cookies are removed from the oven, the sugar in them will be hot and continue the cooking process. The finished product should be soft in the middle and crunchy around the edges.

225 g softened butter
1/2 cup granulated sugar
1 1/2 cups packed brown sugar
2 eggs
2 1/2 teaspoons vanilla extract
2 1/2 cups all-purpose flour
3/4 teaspoon salt
1 teaspoon baking powder
1 teaspoon baking soda
340g semi-sweet chocolate chips

1. Preheat oven to 350f
2. In a large mixing bowl, cream the butter, sugars, eggs, and vanilla.
3. Mix together the flour, salt, baking powder, and baking soda.
4. Combine the wet and dry ingredients.
5. Stir in the chocolate chips.
6. With your fingers, place golf-ball-size dough portions 2 inches apart on an ungreased cookie sheet.
7. Bake for 9 minutes, or until edges are light brown.
8. For variations of this cookie, substitute milk chocolate for the semisweet chocolate and/or add 1 1/2 cups of chopped walnuts or macadamia nuts to the recipe before baking.
9. Although you can substitute margarine for butter in this recipe, you will have the best results from butter. The cookie will have a richer taste and will be crispier around the edges like the original.

Anzac Biscuits

To get into the Aussie Spirit for the Commonwealth games that are on here in Melbourne at the moment I thought I would whip up a batch of Anzac cookies. The recipe I used was from Bill Granger’s Sydney Food, would you believe I have never made these before so I’m not sure if the recipe is the same everywhere or not!

As the recipe says, these were said to have been devised for sending care packages to Australian & New Zealand Army corps soldiers serving in World War 1.

My hubby ate half the mixture before I cooked them as that is what he used to do as a kid & prefers the lovely mixture to the cooked bickie. I waited for the finished product myself & they were great.

Anzac Biscuits

1 cup plain flour
1 cup desiccated coconut
2/3 cup brown sugar
1 cup rolled oats
125g butter
1 tablespoon golden syrup
½ teaspoon bicarbonate of soda (baking soda)
2 teaspoons boiling water

Preheat oven to 160f. Place flour, coconut, sugar & oats in a bowl & mix well.

Place butter & golden syrup in a saucepan over medium heat & melt.

Place bicarbonate of soda in a small bowl & add water, stir to combine.

Add bicarb mix to saucepan & stir. Pour over oat mixture & stir all ingredients together.

Roll teaspoons of biscuit mixture into balls & place on a greased & lined baking tray, leaving room for spreading. Flatten each ball gently with a fork.

Bake for 15-20 minutes, or until biscuits are golden brown at the edges. Allow to cool slightly on trays before transferring to a wore rack. Makes 20.

Chocolate Espresso Cookies Friday 10th Feb 2006

Tomorrow I have friends arriving from Brisbane & we’re all off to visit Jane in hospital so I thought it would be nice to make a little treat to take along. I pinched this recipe from Lex Culinaria. As you can see from the photo mine look nothing like her gorgeous batch, a lot flatter, maybe I shouldn’t have squashed them so much. However as promised they are a delightful little treat. I don’t like things that are too rich & sweet so the dark chocolate & coffee mixture really appealed to me. Heres the recipe straight from Lex…

Chocolate Espresso Cookies

225 grams bitter-sweet (semi-sweet) dark chocolate
50 grams (about 2 tablespoons) butter
1 egg, plus two egg whites
50 grams brown sugar
50 grams white sugar
30 ml crazy strong coffee
100 grams almond meal
60 grams flour
1/4 teaspoon salt
1/4 teaspoon cinnamon

Melt chocolate and butter in the top of a double boiler over medium heat. Whip eggs and sugar on high speed until pale and frothy, about 10 minutes. Stir chocolate mixture into egg mixture. Stir in coffee. Sift almonds, salt, flour and cinnamon together and mix into wet ingredients. Don't worry if your batter looks too runny to be cookie dough, it's supposed to look that way. Pour batter into a shallow plastic pan (one of those black plastic glad bake pans works well) and refrigerate for 3 or 4 hours, until the dough is chilled and firm. Roll dough into balls the size of a hard-boiled egg yolk. Dip each ball in sugar and then squash them flattish with the bottom of a glass or mug. If you'd rather not get your hands all sticky, you could roll the dough into a log, coat the log in sugar and slice cookie rounds from the log instead of making the balls. This should make 35 or 40 small cookies. Each cookie will run you about 70 Calories and 3 grams of fat.
You could reduce the fat and calorie count even more by using more flour and less almond meal and by substituting cocoa powder for some of the chocolate. Just remember to add a bit more sugar if you do that, as the semi-sweet chocolate has sugar in it that cocoa does not.
Bake in a 325F oven for 12 minutes.

Choc Banana Bread – Australia Day 26th Jan 2006

I had a bunch of very overripe bananas to use up thanks to all of the recent scorchers so the second treat I cooked up was some chocolate banana bread from Bill Grangers ‘Bills Food’, this was amazing, esp when still hot from the oven & the chocolate all oozy, yum. You can see in the photos how high the loaf rose & all of the chunky banana pieces & melty chocolate, mmmm, cant beleive I gave this one away after only 1/2 a piece (only half as I'd already scoffed 2 huge choc chip cookies)

Choc Banana Bread

250g (2 cups) plain flour
2 teaspoons baking powder
125g (4 ½ oz) unsalted butter, softened
250 g (1 cup) caster sugar
4 ripe bananas, mashed
2 eggs, lightly beaten
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
175g (1 cup) good quality dark or milk chocolate chips

Preheat the oven to 180c (350f/gas 4). Sift the flour & baking powder into a large bowl. Mix the butter, sugar, bananas, eggs, vanilla extract & chocolate chips in a separate bowl. Add to the dry ingredients & stir to combine, being careful not to overmix.

Pour the batter into a non-stick or lightly greased & floured 19 x 11cm loaf tin & bake for 1 hour 15 minutes or until bread is cooked when tested with a skewer. Leave to cool in the tin for 5 mins before turning out onto a wire rack to cool.

Chocolate Chip Cookies – Australia Day Jan 26 2006

Today we had another scorcher so my plans to go to the Hanging Rock Races were unfortunately cancelled. Woke up & felt like baking so thought I would whip up some treats & take them over to Michaels parents, they have a pool which was just the thing for us to cool down in.

Luckily downstairs at our place stays nice & cool so having the oven on all morning didnt heat things up too badly

The first thing I made were some gorgeous chocolate chip cookies from Marie Claire ‘Cooking’. Very simple to make, the brown sugar & coconut adding lots to the flavour, the photo doesnt do them justice, here’s the recipe

Chocolate Chip cookies

125g (4oz) butter, softened
½ teaspoon vanilla extract
1 cup brown sugar
1 egg
1 cup plain flour
1 cup SR Flour
1 cup desiccated coconut
250g (8oz) chopped chocolate (I used Nestle dark)

Place butter, vanilla & sugar in a bowl & beat until creamy. Beat egg into mixture & then stir through flours, coconut & chocolate. Roll 2 tablespoons of mixture a ta time into balls, place balls on lined baking trays & flatten slightly. Bake in a preheated 190c (375f) oven for 15 minutes or until cookies are lightly browned. Cool on trays. Makes 20